Clean Air Asia, along with co-organizers, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (a UNEP convened initiative), presented the 11th Better Air Quality Conference (BAQ),15-17 November 2023, with pre-events on 13-14 November, at the ADB Headquarters, Manila, Philippines.

BAQ 2023 was themed Ambition to Action: Clean Air for Health and the Climate. With a comprehensive focus on science as the basis for action, integrated solutions, and innovative financing mechanisms, the BAQ 2023 strongly advocated for heightened ambition and enhanced action addressing the critical issues of air pollution and climate change.

Countries are progressively committing to a sustainability transition and adopting policies that will combat air pollution and climate change and usher in a new era of renewable energy generation, electric mobility, and sustainable urban development. This transition reshaped societies and created opportunities for equitable and inclusive growth. However, the challenges, particularly for developing countries, often lie in how to make the transition given the limited technical capacity, resources, infrastructure, planning, and financing. It is essential to strengthen the ability of cities, countries, civil society organizations, industry, and academia and increase their resources to develop bankable and scalable projects to step up action and address both air quality and climate issues. BAQ 2023 served as the solutions platform to bridge the transition gap and identify solutions for clean air (i.e., policies, technologies, financing, governance, partnerships) to attain co-benefits of health and a safe climate in Asia.